


The Terrors of the Sea

by HazelR



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Being tied up, Deaf Character, Death Threats, Gen, Human Sacrifice, Hypnosis, Kidnapping, Patton is only mentioned for a sentence, Robbery, Slavery, held at knife point, little bit unsympathetic Roman, platonic and familial Anxietmus, siren deceit, teasing about a disability
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-11
Updated: 2020-07-11
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:21:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25193830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HazelR/pseuds/HazelR
Summary: Scaring humans is Janus's favorite thing, but he might be set up to make some *GASP* human friends?!?!
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders/Deceit | Janus Sanders
Comments: 5
Kudos: 118





	The Terrors of the Sea

**Author's Note:**

> The bold is sign and I tried to include some asl word ordering. The verbs are typically at the end of the sentence. I can add a translation if the meaning is unclear.

Janus switched his tail for legs and rose up out of the water as close to the island as he could swim while remaining unnoticed. He preferred approaching in this manner because it gave the effect of him appearing out of nowhere quite close to his new human. Janus loved effect and he loved scaring humans. 

He caught sight of the new human immediately and watched him tremble and squirm against his bonds. The human was tied by his wrists to the palm tree closest to shore as agreed upon by him and the port city nearby. One human in good health every 5 years in exchange for the safety of their waters from him. Usually the sacrifices were scared, as none of the towns people knew what happened to the sacrifices, but this one seemed especially distraught. Even as tears spilled down his face his eyes were fixed unwaveringly on Janus.  
The siren smirked while showing off his fangs. This caused the human to shake harder still. 

“Calm down, darling.” 

Janus laced his voice with hypnotic power and watched as the human relaxed involuntarily. When he arrived at the human he took his face in his hands and examined him taking care to check his ears for anything that would muffle noise and block him from Janus’s power. 

“Pretty human. You may call me Deceit.” Janus purred. 

The human attempted to pull away from Janus’s hands. Janus chuckled. 

“None of that, darling, stay still. We wouldn’t want anything to happen to you now would we?” 

The human froze with his eyes still trained on Janus who smiled wide enough to show off every one of his sharp teeth. 

Without any resistance he took the human’s hand and bit through the rope on his wrist. To his pleasure, Janus could see goosebumps erupt on the human’s arms. He put the human’s hand down at his side and circled around the back of the tree to do the same to the other wrist. Coming around again in front of the human he said,

“Now, just stay right there, pet. I’ll fetch some water and be right back.”

As soon as Janus turned his back on the human, he was tackled to the ground and pinned down with the human kneeling on his shoulders. While his teeth were razor sharp, Janus was actually on the small side in stature and strength. 

“GET OFF!” 

Janus shouted to no effect. He struggled to dislodge the human but was stuck in the vulnerable position. To make matters worse the human tied his wrists behind his back with the rope that he had just been bound in. 

After that the human stood up and took a few steps to the side. Janus turned to look at the human and opened his mouth to scream. Even the hardiest of humans would be rendered insane from the scream of a siren. Janus saw the human before him simply laugh at him with a slightly peculiar sound. Janus looked at him with wide eyes fear finally creeping in as he realized his position. As if lob a mental rebuttal at the fear, Janus mentally dubbed the human “Anxiety” referencing the vastly preferable dynamic of a minute or so ago. 

Janus shifted as the human grabbed a bag hidden in a nearby tree. Perhaps, he thought, he could get away, get the ropes off, and be free. But Anxiety kept his eyes locked on Janus the entire time even as he ate and drank from his bag. 

“Thinking of running away?”

Janus scoffed. “Darling, what ever gave you that idea?”

“You keep glancing around and fidgeting.”

Oh. Janus hadn’t realized how obvious he was being. This was entirely new territory for the siren. 

“I will get out of these eventually.”

Anxiety smiled. “Maybe, but you are going to answer my questions before you do anything else.”

Janus purred, lacing every hypnotic power and persuasion into the tone of his voice “what makes you think that, pet?”

“Because you need water, and I have nothing but time.”

It didn’t work. All of his power was useless on this human and he was threatening to dehydrate him. To death? Dehydration for a siren was a slow, painful death.

Janus worked his jaw in thought. “what did you want to know?” He murmured softly. 

Anxiety frowned and advanced on him, hauled him up, and seethed “what did you say?”

Janus was afraid for a moment and then suspicious. 

“What did you think I said?”

Anxiety dropped him and crouched down getting in his face. “Are you going to cooperate or not?”

Janus took a guess and murmured “I will” as quietly as possible. 

Anxiety glared at him. 

Janus was sure now. “you can’t hear me! How are you blocking your ears?” Janus spoke clearly and loudly.

Anxiety snorted. “I’m deaf, you idiot. I read lips, when you aren’t deliberately keeping them still. Stop doing that.” 

Janus processed this new information. So that was how he was immune and how he got past his original check. It would easy to implement this new information into a more thorough check in the future. Anxiety watched him like a hawk the entire time. Now that he had seen it, Janus wouldn’t fall trap to a deaf captive again. All he had to do was escape this human and never approach him again. 

Janus looked back at Anxiety and purred, “Whatever you say, darling.”

Anxiety was suspicious of the cooperation, but asked his question anyway. “Where are the bodies of the other tributes? You can’t eat their bones I’m assuming.” 

So that’s what Anxiety wanted. The town probably valued a proper burial and Janus certainly hadn’t done that. In fact, he hadn’t killed them at all. Most sirens ate humans, but Janus had thought they were useful and preferred keeping them around. 

“Oh here and there. Which in particular are you looking for?” 

“all of them” Anxiety said threateningly. 

“That’s a fair number; where would you like to start?” Janus smirked. He guessed they would start with the most recent tribute, which was good because Janus knew exactly where that particular, very alive, very susceptible to hypnosis, body was at the moment. 

“Remus” Anxiety strangled out. It was clear Remus was very important to him, but it was not immediately clear which tribute Remus was. 

“You’ll have to be more specific” Janus replied, sounding bored. 

“Remus” Anxiety growled again. “18 when you took him. Brown hair with a streak of white. The last tribute to come from the town.”

“Technically you are the last tribute to come from the town, but I do know who you mean.” Janus had been calling him the Duke. He had looked royal and brave when Janus first approached, even though Janus soon learned he simply lacked all fear and common sense. 

“I took him to one of my islands, it’s rather close. Just southwest of here. I can swim you there within the hour.” Janus smirked.

“Ha. Hardly. Im not letting you swim anywhere until I have every tribute’s body back to their families”

“Until? What did you plan to do with me after that?” 

Anxiety didn’t answer. Janus got the vague impression that Anxiety himself didn’t know the answer. Good thing once they got to Remus, it wouldn’t matter. 

***

Janus was tied much more securely and placed a bit farther inland. While he watched and waited, Anxiety lit a signal fire. Soon a ship came into view and two rowboats came to shore each with one human on them. Janus could see their ear coverings from were he sat so he didn’t bother to use his power on them. His scream would temporarily affect them, but it wouldn’t accomplish anything and Janus wanted to pretend to be a good little captive until he got his chance. Anxiety switched his bag for a new one and hugged the other humans.  
While the serious one watched Janus, Anxiety and the round faced one conversed with signing for a few minutes then they brought one row boat about 10 yards inland and left in the other one. 

Anxiety replaced the ropes around his hands and feet for shackles. That would be a bit of a problem getting off, but Janus was still confident he could do it with Remus as a hostage. Janus pondered looking dejected at the change and settled on looking bored. Janus was shoved in the bottom of the rowboat and made to lay on the keel line. 

“Stay there” Anxiety growled. 

“wouldn’t dream of resisting your brutish charm.” Janus smirked.

Anxiety squinted suspiciously. Janus was at ease in the situation, until he had been in the boat for two hours. Humans were So Slowwwwwww. Janus was very bored and getting frustratingly dry. 

“do you even know what direction southwest is?” Janus grumbled. 

Anxiety had been calmly watching the sea since he decided that Janus wasn’t going to try and drown him at the moment. 

“Hey, human!” Janus said. “If I dry out, I won’t be very much help to you now would I?” 

Being so close to the ocean and drying out was a sickening feeling.

“Hey!” Janus raised his voice. Anxiety just kept serenely looking at the water, and Janus realized his blunder. Janus felt himself blushing at his mistake but he really did need water. After schooling his expression again, he used his shoulder to tap on the boat.

Immediately, Anxiety turned to face him, serene expression vanishing. “What.”

“considering how you want me alive for the time being, I would assume me drying out is a fate you want me to avoid?” 

Anxiety looked at Janus and noticed the change that had slowly taken over his skin. It was dry and starting to show little cracks in places. 

“stay in the boat”

“Oh I wouldn’t..” Janus cut himself off as Anxiety hadn’t waited for a response before he looked away to grab his bag. Oh that was annoying. 

Anxiety brought out a knife and Janus sobered up as Anxiety kept him secure at knife point the entire time he was leaned over the edge of the boat. Janus was able to take in the ocean water and completely rehydrate himself. He slowly added pressure to Anxiety’s hand to indicate he was finished. Back at the bottom of the boat, he purred, “Thank you, darling,” and gave Virgil the distinct impression of a stray cat with the way he looked up at him. 

Virgil was sorely tempted to feel calm with the sweet acting creature, but remembering that he was only here to find the corpse of his brother and the others, he frowned and bitterly focused on how dangerous Deceit actually was. He kept his piercing gaze locked down as much as he could while still steering in the right direction. While nothing had happened while his guard was down, he had no doubt Deceit would gladly eat him as he had the other tributes. 

When he had returned from his time at sea, he had looked for his family and his younger brother before doing anything else. At finding out Remus had been given as tribute three years ago, he returned to the ship and spent the next two years hatching a plan to rid the town of the evil siren and bring his brother’s bones back to be buried with honor. It was their way in the town, and without a proper burial, formal grieving wasn’t even attempted as it was felt it could never be completed without the burial rites. Everyone had stressed how dangerous this undertaking was and Virgil was going to be as cautious and vigilant as humanly possible. For Remus. 

***

Soon after that a large island covered in trees was visible on the horizon and Anxiety made quick work of the remaining distance. He beached the rowboat and dragged Janus out on the shore. 

“Where are they?”

“the last is just a few minutes inland. Better hidden there, you see. If you could just undo my legs ~~’

“nope. We have plenty of time for you to manage in the shackles. Lead on”

Janus turned so Anxiety couldn’t see his mouth and led into the way forward. 

“Dukey? Shout when you can hear me.” Janus called a few times before he heard the reply

“Dee Dee? You’re back!!”

Janus suppressed his urge to turn around and see if Anxiety noticed anything. 

“Run grab the machete from the house and come back with it.”

“Am I the victim or the villain this time?”

Janus smiled with excitement and relief. “Victim, come with it to your neck, please darling” 

“Now? Okay.”

Janus heard The Duke laughing while he ran off to play victim like he had many times before to help Janus scare humans. 

Janus remembered the last time he and the Duke had worked together. They were only on this island a few weeks when a boat stopped there. Janus let his Duke pretend to be in charge of their operation that time. Before the Duke, Janus was always the one the humans fixed their eyes on. When the Duke joined the operation, Janus sometimes let him take the lead, freeing Janus to sneak around in the background. 

He rounded up the visitors to their island for his Duke. He then had them all kneel in front of the hut, waiting for the duke to come out. Surprisingly he dropped from the trees, red face paint lines making him look even more savage and wild. 

“Oh, who do we have here? Fresh meat?” The Duke smiled wickedly. 

At the silence, Janus growled and snapped his teeth behind the head of who he guessed the leader was. 

“p-p-please, no. I am the merchant James Pimberton. I have exotic spices you can have if you let me go. Take some of my men. I’m sure they would be much more filling than me.”

“We can easily take you and the spices. What do you think, Deceit?”

“Muscles are filling, but rich, fat, humans have the most flavorful meat, my Duke.” 

“Sounds like luck is really running out for you, Jimmy. Spices do sound interesting but I think the only thing that can save your hide is gold and lots of it. “

“100 crowns for my freedom!”  
“Deceit, I think he’s holding out on us.”

Deceit poked the learned looking man and said “tell us how much is on the ship at this exact moment”  
“Assorted spices and goods, 394 crowns in the coffers, and 147 slaves.” 

Deceit turned to the Duke, “He was most definitely holding out on us, my Duke.” 

“And slaves too? Naughty Naughty. Well, I can’t eat that many people, can you Dee?”

Deceit paused and made a show of thinking. “No, that’s just a few too many.” 

“Then I have come to a decision! For 200 Crowns and some of the spices, we will let the rest of your property go. Deal?”

“Deal! Please take it!” 

“Then if you would, Dee, send this human to grab the cash and some spices and send the bodyguard to let the slaves go.” 

“WHAT” 

The Duke was too busy laughing to properly respond so Deceit took over after he sent the others off. “You made a deal for us to let your property go. What do you think might happen to you if you were to go against such a deal? Oh, and if I may add, darling? The deal did not include your life. So, you are going to be a quiet pet and give us anything we desire in the hopes that we might spare your life, correct?”

The merchant gulped and slowly nodded.

Deceit caught sight of their inside man, a tribute from many years ago, in the woods behind the captive. He slipped off to confer. “How many groups can you split the ship into?”  
“we can send 10 rowboats with a variety of people in any direction but I think our best bet is to take the slaves back where they came from.”

“Hm. Banish anyone you think problematic to the row boats. Who would you pick to take the slaves back?“

“A hand called Patton is a good lad. I’d trust him to see to it. “

“I’ll head back to help you send the ship off.”

“What about the merchant?“

“He’s stuck kneeling for the next 24 hours or until I return. Dukey can handle him” 

“Then?”

“drowning, after The Duke and I have had our fun.” 

His inside man rolled his eyes, knowing that ‘drowning’ was close enough to shore to be nonfatal. The two of them headed off to the ship. 

The tributes usually ended up luring ships and groups to various Islands so Deceit could rob and scare them, but The Duke was the most fun so Deceit had him stick around. 

***

Remus thought the humans must be coming soon if Deceit was planning a scene to start immediately. He got the knife and the blade closish but not too close to his neck and was about to walk toward Deceit again when he saw him step into the clearing, chained and standing in front of Virgil. 

Remus froze and stared while Virgil did the same. Janus however was smiling wickedly and ordered “knife higher, darling, come closer and kneel down.” Janus laced his voice with power and Remus had to obey. 

Virgil broke out of his trace when Remus brought the knife closer to his neck and whirled to face Deceit. Virgil dropped his knife and started begging. “Please, please don’t hurt him. You win; I’ll do anything you want.” Deceit looked completely smug.

“That’s better, darling. Now be a good pet and free me.” Janus purred

Anxiety slowly and smoothly performed the action.

“Dee, that’s my brother,” Remus said. 

“Your brother held me at knife point for hours.”

“I don’t see any stab wounds! Let me see him!!!” 

“Fine” 

The Duke threw down the knife and rushed to Anxiety. 

Virgil got the shackles off but didn’t see his brother coming to tackle him from behind. During the momentary confusion and crying, Janus moved a safe distance away from the large human and his little brother. 

At first, Virgil was worried about Remus still being under Deceit’s control. He went limp in Remus’s grip, unwilling to defend himself and risk hurting his brother. Remus’s arms stayed securely around him and soon grabbed his face and turned it so they were face to face. Remus was smiling. Virgil cried and buried his head in Remus’s shoulder, uncaring of the danger present. He had no idea his brother could be alive and yet here he was. Virgil’s fear was mixed with a new determination and hope now that he knew Remus was alive. If he was forced into servitude as well, it would still be alright if Remus was okay. Was he okay?

Virgil pulled back and signed at his brother

**  
You alright?**

**Yeah, you?**

**Fine. You okay how?**

**Deceit My Friend.  
**

Janus watched the brothers sign at each other. He’d have no idea what they were saying except that every minute one of them pointed at him among their other signs. 

It wasn’t a particularly discouraging situation at the moment. Physically, Anxiety was still superior to Dukey and Janus, but Janus was pretty sure he wouldn’t start anything with his brother present. Still, Janus was going to stay far out of his reach for the time being. Janus usually had complete control at pretty much all times. There was always the chance that some pirate would stab him in his sleep, but being so close to a human he couldn’t control was more than unsettling. He was unsure if his Duke would even want to stay with him anymore. Janus really didn’t know if he could make him. If he tried, Anxiety might do any number of things. Dukey was no doubt telling him that any threats on his life were a lie and Janus wasn’t entirely sure. Being trapped was terrifying. But Dukey would vouch for him. Dukey liked him. right? Janus was scared of the risk of him choosing a fellow human over him. One who clearly cared deeply for him.

Most of the tributes weren’t entirely unhappy with the arrangement. The only thing Janus never budged on was they could never return to the village he got them from. They were completely anonymous now and he had roving agents in most of the ports he was interested in. Most of them didn’t wish to return to a village that would willingly let them die. Tributes were usually lower-class outcasts without family to defend them. His Duke, however, never talked about the family he left behind, only saying that they were unable to change him being the tribute. Janus had never known he had a brother at all. Janus disappeared while the brothers were distracted and went for a swim.

The brothers were happily catching up until Virgil noticed Deceit was gone. 

**He(Deceit) gone. Go home we can.**

**Go home I can’t.** Signed Remus. 

**You Hypnotized You? He(Deceit) left.**

**Stay I want.**

****  
Virgil got angry.  
**  
With that fish? We go home will.**

**Not my home. I sacrifice. I dead to them. They care don’t.**

**Mom Dad?  
**

Remus looked down and decided to change topics. 

**  
Adventure. Fighting. Exciting here.**

**We go home. No discussion.**

Remus made a frustrated sound and turned away. 

“Remus? Remus!” Virgil started shouting as Remus ran into the forest. Virgil tried to follow but he didn’t know the land and stopped at a mountain stream to rest. Remus would find him when he cooled down. Virgil made almost no sound as he sat waiting, and he had no way of hearing the other people on the island or his brother’s shout of surprise. 

***

Janus returned to his island and went to the hut in the center to see the Duke but instead he found a note. The Duke knew Janus couldn’t read, so Janus figured it was from Anxiety. Janus searched the island for his Duke but only found Anxiety. 

Anxiety was alone, sitting at one of the freshwater streams and looking, well anxious. Janus didn’t want to startle him but needed to know what the note said. He slowly crept forward trying to be in Anxiety’s peripherals. Anxiety noticed, looked up and scowled. Janus continued forward and handed him the note. “what does this say?”

Anxiety looked surprised to learn Janus couldn’t read. Janus felt a little hot under the collar. Why would someone who lived in the ocean bother with paper? Anxiety looked down at the paper and grew visibly anxious again. 

“Deceit, we have your Duke. Leave 200 crowns on the beach in 3 days or he dies. If you are at anytime spotted by my crew, he dies. Signed the dread pirate Drake “ Anxiety looked up at Janus, dreading the answer. “Is the Duke?” Janus nodded. Anxiety grew angry and shoved Janus down “What does the pirate Drake want with my brother?”

“The pirate must be connected to that merchant. We took 200 crowns from him and freed his slaves. He is the only one we have robbed that knows of this island. “ 

“Drake is dangerous. He has been avoiding capture for 7 years. “

Janus looked up at Anxiety with a hint of desperation, “Then we will have to work together if we want Remus back.”

***

Janus secreted through the waters for a few hours but soon found the ship with the skeleton on the mast and snuck closer in the darkness. He could see the Duke tied to one of the masts with two pirates talking to him. Coming closer he could hear on of them asking questions. “How did you get a siren? Answer me!” 

Rough! Bark! Grrrrrrrrrr

Janus stifled a laugh. The Duke was barking at his captors. They weren’t going to be getting any information from him. 

“SPEAK ENGLISH! DO YOU WANT WATER? SAY SOMETHING!!!!”

Yip! Pant Pant Pant 

“AGGGHHHHHHH” 

The other pirate said nothing the entire time and Janus figured the guards would cover their ears. Unfortunately, that meant there was no way for Janus to attack them. Even screaming at them was out of the question with his Duke in range. Janus really would need Anxiety to have a chance at this. 

***

Meanwhile, Virgil was trying to convince his captain to do something that he himself wasn’t entirely sure was a good idea. 

“How did the Siren get away?” Captain Roman pressed. 

“I told you. I never considered that my brother might be alive. He was holding a knife to his neck.”“you did tell me that. You didn’t tell me why you let him go back to the water even after you knew for certain he didn’t have Remus.”

Anxiety didn’t have an answer. Out of respect? No. Out of hope he could help them get Remus back? Not really that either. 

“because if Remus trusts him, I trust him. He is coming back with the location of Drake’s ship, but he promised to only interact with me. He is my best shot at getting my brother back right now. “

“Drake’s bounty is more that I can shake a stick at. I guess we can afford to see if the siren is being truthful. I wonder how much of a disadvantage they are at if they are plugging their ears.” Roman gave Virgil a sly side eye. 

Virgil smirked and joked back, already feeling better “I seem to get along just fine.”

“Well you often seem as if you can hear. Until you miss a seam ripping and seem extremely unseemly. “ Roman replied. 

“My superior eyes always catch when your hair is messed up.” Virgil retorted.

“Virgil, Why must you hurt me?”

“Sometimes I just gotta be me… nuh.” 

***

A day later Roman’s ship was in position. Roman’s crew watched as Virgil dived into the water a mere few feet from the siren. They knew Drake would easily win in a direct confrontation, but most were unconvinced that the siren was on their side. Virgil wasn’t sure either and hadn’t let Roman be the one to go with Deceit. 

“Ready?” Deceit asked Virgil.

He nodded anxiously and wrapped him arms around Deceit, cutting off their communication and bringing Deceit’s teeth closer to Virgil’s neck than they had ever been before. Deceit used his arms to secure Virgil and started swimming towards the Pirates and Remus. 

When they were a distance away from the ship, Deceit dived under the water and the crew started shifting nervously. 

Roman tried to assure his crew, “They need to approach underwater to avoid detection. Deceit will bring Virgil up for air.” Roman appeared to be certain, and his crew calmed considerably. They stayed looking to spot Virgil even as the sun finished setting. 

***

When the pair finally approached the ship, Virgil had to wait several minutes to catch his breath. Deceit brought him up for air as little as possible to maximize their chances of slipping through unspotted. After that, Virgil stealthily climbed up the rope for the anchor and hid in the shadows. He saw Remus tied to the mast and one guard watching Remus sleep. Remus looked pretty beat up. Virgil tore his eyes away and lowered a rope for Deceit to tie around his waist. After hauling him up, he and Deceit creeped slowly towards the guard. Virgil got one of his ears unblocked and Deceit spoke quickly,

“Kneel down, kitten.” The guard kneeled and got the lovesick expression people tended to get from Janus using all of the power he could muster. While Virgil was freeing Remus, Janus continued to instruct the guard. 

“Where is your captain?” Janus purred.

“He be in his room: second door on the left, just down the stairs.”

“You are doing so good for me, kitten. I want your captain to see how well you are doing for me. Does he keep his room locked?” 

“Yes”

“Do you think he would open up if The Duke agreed to tell you two all the secrets of the sirens?”

“You would do that?” He spoke softly with wide and trusting eyes. 

“Of course, darling. I just need your help getting him up here. Can you do that?” 

“Aye, your voice be very pretty.” 

“Do you think the captain would want to hear it?”

“Aye! He wants to know everything about Sirens.”

“That’s so nice of him, darling. Now, if you get him out of his room, take out his ear plugs for me. My voice will be such a nice surprise for him. He will be so happy, and you will have made me simply delighted if you can do it. Do you think you could do that, my kitten, for me?”

The man was completely in another world now and nodded vigorously. Janus guided him to stand and was whispering reminders and assurances to him as they walked down the stairs and toward the pirate captain. 

“I be supposed to get his attention like this” The lovesick pirate said and struck a match and waved it under the crack in the door for a minute until it burned out. 

“I wasn’t sure it would work, but the captain said he be certain.” As he lit a second match and got down on his knees, the door flung open revealing a large and angry pirate with sword drawn and ears plugged. His eyes flashed with anger and the other pirate was still kneeling and staring wide eyed.  
The pirate smirked, “I figured you’d try somethin’ like this,” and took a menacing step at Janus, who stepped backward on instinct. 

Suddenly Virgil sprang from the shadows and had a dagger at the captains neck. A slight pressure was all it took for the pirate to drop his sword in surrender. Janus pulled the plugs from his ears and quickly brought him under his control as well. Drake’s face was a battlefield where his rebellious spirit tried to resist but eventually lost to Janus’ charming control. The rest of the crew didn’t fight very much after seeing their captain kneeling submissively to the Siren. Virgil tended to Remus, while Janus raised the white flag and instructed the crew to sail towards Roman. 

***

Back aboard Roman’s ship, Remus was slowly coming back to himself. The pirates were securely stored in the brig, and Roman had called Janus to come up to the deck in order to thank him properly. However the rest of the crew was safe below deck with earplugs. 

“I apologize for doubting you, Deceit,” Roman continued, “and as a token of gratitude, we are willing to give you one of the pirates for your consumption.”

Janus’s face twitched almost imperceptibly, and Remus started laughing loudly. Janus remembered a late night drunk confession and tried to cover. 

“That will hardly be necessary. “ Janus started, but Roman cut him off. “Its not much of an imposition, the majority of the bounty is for Drake and piracy is a hanging crime… What?” Remus had progressed to full on guffaws with some squeaks thrown in. Janus couldn’t think of anything to say that would be believable without adding hypnosis, so he ended up saying “Thanks-but-no-thanks-Remus-I’ll-see-you-tomorrow-bye,” and diving into the water. 

**That about what?** Virgil asked his brother

**Black Summer, He eat people never.** Remus giggled, knowing that he was signing fast enough that Roman probably wouldn’t understand

Roman wondered if he should ask what a camel had to do with what just happened, then decided that he would rather remain in the dark. 

Virgil looked into the water where Deceit was with a new understanding. With the new knowledge, he felt better about growing to trust someone named Deceit. 

Janus swam away taking the time to rest now that the danger seemed to be over. He was confident now that Virgil at least trusted him enough to stay in contact with Dukey. He also thought about how useful traveling with someone he couldn’t affect could be and started scheming about their next adventure.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks to Delimeful for the idea that deaf characters are immune to Sirens and RonniRotten for eir contest #rotten666contest and encouraging me to write.


End file.
